The 42-year-old’s background is in Ferrari’s car sales division where he ascended to the position of president and CEO of their North American operation, which he has held since 2010.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo described Mattiacci as a “highly regarded manager who knows the company well”.

Mattiacci’s rise began after he joined the Italian company in 1999, having previously worked for Jaguar. He worked for Ferrari’s operations in South America, the Middle East, Russia and Finland.

After spending four years as the president and CEO of Ferrari Asia Pacific (pictured) he was moved into the corresponding role for the North American market.

A background in motor racing is not a prerequisite for success in Formula One – Flavio Briatore being a famous example. But Mattiacci will be aware that by taking charge of running Italy’s most historic racing team he now occupies one of the most demanding and high-profile jobs in motorsport.

Uhmmmm!
If Stefano cant bring race wins then this blokes got no chance !
Is this a knee jerk reaction ?
What could he possibly bring to make this team win ?
Its designers and engineers that supply the wheel barrow !
If Teflonso and Kimstar cant win then no amount of management head hunting will fix it,

So much hoped for Whitmarsh! But he and Domenicali seem to have the same problem, being excessively accomodating.
Good luck to Marco though, usually people with different roles can develop new interesting ways to address a problem!

He needs to find success and fast, or he will be gone very quickly. Patience at Maranello has finally worn out. Maybe Domenicali being jettisoned is a knee-jerk reaction to their woeful performance in Bahrain. If so then Mattiacci could just be a stop-gap replacement while the powers that be at Ferrari desperately try and find a way out of this mess.

Sales chief, eh? While I’m sure he’s a perfectly nice man and I wish him the best, I assume it’s only temporary until they find somebody more engineering-oriented candidate. Ross Brawn maybe? Pleeeease?

in that case, why not say it out front? “we want to go in another direction and while we meditate on the most fitting person, XY is going to fill the position”. it wouldnt be bad for this guy when he is removed (and he will be removed) and everyone knows it´s just temporary. now it will look like a bad decision when they replace this guy!

Well, I guess, even if he didn’t plan to, Alonso will be moving to McLaren. This now seems like a crazy house. One thing I finally saw going forward was the fact that they have finally added some important technical people with Alison and Loic if I remember well. NOW they needed the time. The truth is, since 2010 they just went backwards with every season.

Alonso would be taking a step backwards by moving to Mclaren. Even with the Merc engine they are still not as quick as Merc. What makes you think Honda will be as quick as Merc with a year less matured engine? XD

Mattiacci would take some time to settle down and bring the team back to shape. Since Stefano’s resignation is with immediate effect, he will have to start right away. I am hoping James Allison will take charge at this point.

Alonso is pretty much stuck with Ferrari. He has run out of choice for 2015 !!!!
2016 is the earliest he can make a reasonable move. For next year.

Mercedes is full
Red Bull – Not performing & full
McLaren – Maybe good. But dunno how good Honda will be next year ?

Definitely. There was a last race show down for 2 reasons, Alonso had a stellar year and McLaren/Red Bull threw away lots of points. That F2012 needed others to stumble, and for Alonso to be there to pick up the pieces (Valencia was a great example of that). It was a great car in the rain and very reliable – but Ferrari was horrible with its in-season development of the car.

Better a new car salesman than a used car salesman. I guess.
But what the heck. I follow F1 for its political farce, and on paper, appointing a career salesman to manage the operations of any racing team is a masterstroke. When it also happens to be the team with the greatest sense of entitlement, well, that’s pure genius.
Unless of course the guy has more untapped potential than the F14 T. Then it’s all going to become rather boring.